Summary: Sequel to Reawakening The Past
Summary: Sequel to Reawakening The Past. Zoey and the gang are back for freshman year of PCA. And everything's about to change, especially when they meet the new kids. Trusts will be shattered, hearts will be broken. Thanks to Hybrid Speed for the title. Summary kind of stinks, but the story is really good, I promise!
A/N: I bet you are incredibly surprised to see this updated, right? Anyway, I'm not sure anyone will actually want to read this, as it's probably forgotten, but nonetheless, I am finishing what I started, dig?!
Disclaimer: I don't own Zoey 101.
Accepting The Present
Chapter 12:
Accepting The Present
Normal POV
Zoey sighed and continued down the hallway, a note clutched in her hand. Why am I even doing this?
She'd received a note once she got back from class. Well, technically, after she'd spent thirty minutes trying to get Lola and Nicole to come out of the bathroom. They had last period free, so, yeah, why not sit in a public bathroom?
"There's, like, no way I'm going out there, Zoe!" Nicole had said. "I don't care how icky this stupid bathroom is."
"Surely I can start my acting career from here." Lola said, obviously a bit frazzled from what had just occurred. "Uh…uh…Toilet the Musical! Yeah, definitely!"
Her friends were strange. But what wasn't lately?
The note she received had said the following:
If you want explanations, come to the girl's lounge at 11 PM.
She was almost sure it was from Chase. She couldn't know for sure, as the note was typed, but she was almost positive.
Part of her wanted to just rip it up into ten trillion little pieces, sprinkle it on ravioli, and feed it to Coco. To just forget it, and him, and everything.
She wasn't quite sure what compelled her to finally decide to go. Odds are, it was because she still loved him. But she didn't really want to think much about that.
She finally reached the girl's lounge. It was dark, but she heard muffled voices.
"Who's there?" she called out.
"Zoey?" Nicole's voice came out through the darkness
"Nicole?" Zoey asked, confused. "You sent me that note?"
"What note? I got a note too!" Nicole explained, confused. Zoey finally found the light switch. Sure enough, there was Nicole, note in hand.
"Okay, this is weird." Zoey pointed out.
"Wait, you guys, too?" Logan walked in, also holding a note.
"Alright, now it's weirder." Zoey sighed. "What's going on?"
"Who sent these?" Nicole wondered.
"That," came a female voice from the stairs. "would be me." Everyone turned around in surprise. It was –
"Lori?!" Zoey yelled, disgusted. "What do you want from us?"
"Yeah, haven't you and your brother tortured us enough?" Nicole said angrily.
"Why did you give us these?" Logan added, holding up his note.
Lori sighed. They all hated her, she knew they did. They could've been friends; she could've had friends for once in her life. Look how they all stick up for each other…they all love each other. I've never had that…so I tried taking it away from them, but I failed. I was too weak. Love always beats hate. So Loretta Lynn Hevenofsky, daughter of Yolanda Hevenofsky, finally felt remorse. After all, if she couldn't have love, at least some people would. They were lucky. Taking love away from them would do nothing but add more pain like mine to the world.
"There's a few things I have to do." She answered honestly. "Logan?"
"What?" he snapped.
She looked at him, and it hurt her. She was responsible for all their pain. At that moment, she was no better than her mother. She needed to fix this. "Monte isn't dating Dana. She's his cousin. They didn't recognize each other at first, but once they were paired up for that project, they remembered. Monte was sent away because he accidentally burnt down the Cruz household. He went to Zoey and Chase's foster home, and then a couple years later, me and my mom took him in. I made him flirt with Dana before he knew who she was, to ruin your relationship. I'm sorry…"
Logan's mouth hung open. He couldn't find words. For once, he had nothing, absolutely nothing, to say.
Lori half-smiled. It felt good to tell the truth for once. She turned to Nicole. "Nicole?" Nicole said nothing; she merely nodded, waiting. "I'm the one who told Monte to ask you out and then break your heart. It was all me. He only ran because he couldn't do that to you." Lori gulped back tears. "He really cares about you, Nicole. I just hope I haven't screwed it up for him…"
When Nicole, too, lacked words, Lori took a deep breath and turned to Zoey. "Zoey."
Zoey took a deep breath as well. "I'm listening…"
This would be the hardest. She'd made Zoey suffer the most. All out of jealousy. "I kissed Chase. He didn't kiss me. It was completely against his will. The only reason he wasn't going to tell you was because he couldn't stand the possibility of you being gone from him. He loves you so much." She half-smiled again as Zoey wiped away a tear and continued listening. "The truth is…" She turned to everyone. "I was jealous of all of you. You've got great friends and people all around who love you. I've never had that. I should've known trying to take it all away from you wouldn't give it to me. So…I'm sorry. Truly."
She turned around and began walking back up the stars. She'd done it. Her conscience was clear.
She was surprised when she heard feet behind her. She turned back around and was face-to-face with Zoey Brooks, the girl whom she thought ruined her life. In reality, it was ruined long before.
Zoey said nothing at first. She just simply put out her hand, a half-smile on her face. I took it and we shook hands.
"Maybe once everything is back in order," Zoey said quietly. "We can start fresh." Lori looked down the stairs. Nicole was nodding and Logan was too, but in a more manly way.
Now she knew for sure she had done the right thing. "Sounds good."
"And Lori?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"Yeah," Logan and Nicole said one after the other.
It was then that Lori decided; maybe there's hope, after all.
Her absence was killing him. He needed her back. She was his best friend and all that was good in the world. He was sure there was no hope, as he sat on his roof, thinking.
So you could imagine Chase Matthews' surprise when he found Zoey Brooks standing next to him.
"Do – do you want me to leave?" he asked quietly. It was dark out. Curfew was soon to end anyway.
She sat down in the chair next to him. "No." Chase gave a small smile. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he hoped it was something good.
"Do you remember when I was leaving the foster home?" Zoey spoke up. "And we made a promise to never separate the Dynamic Duo?"
Chase smiled. "Yeah, I seem to recall that."
"Lori told me what happened." She told Chase. Finally. I thought she never would… "And I decided that, I should've believed you from the beginning. I'm sorry."
"It's cool." Chase smiled. "We're okay now though, right?"
Zoey pulled him into a hug. It seemed to last for decades, that one hug. She missed him all along. She missed laughing with him, being near him.
She pulled from the hug and ruffled his bushy hair. "I think we are."
"Alright, well, that's goods." Chase continued to ramble. "'Cause, well, you know, it would've been really – " She smiled and kissed him.
Back to the way it should be. Finally.
Nicole remained in the girl's lounge in disbelief. "He really cares about you, Nicole"… "He really cares about you, Nicole"… "He really cares about you, Nicole"…
It was something new to her ears. Most guys she met simply thought she was hot or cute. He cared. She liked the idea of that.
"Monte!" she shouted. He had just walked in, ready to explain the whole thing to Nicole. She ran up to him and smiled.
"Hey Nicole, look I – " Out of the blue, she kissed him, and he kissed back, shocked but happy. He thought she was mad. Apparently not?
She pulled away and smiled. "Lori told me everything."
"Really?"
"Yeah…and I just thought we'd pick up where we, you know, left off." After she said that, she giggled.
"I think that was here…" he smiled and kissed her again. Thank you, Lori. He pulled away and asked, "Want to go get a smoothie?"
"Sure! Let's go!" She grabbed his wrist and they ran off, laughing.
"Lola? Lola!" Michael continued to knock on the bathroom door. He couldn't believe she was still in there after all this time. "If you don't come out, I will come in! I'm not afraid of the girl's room!"
Lola continued to stare at the door. What do you do when you've run out of acting techniques? And all that's left is…you?
"Okay, maybe I am…" Michael admitted. "C'mon, Lola! Open up! Please?"
She sighed and opened the door. "Look, Mike, if you're here to reject me, it's cool. You already said you didn't like me so – "
And them Michael kissed her, right in front of the girl's room. Her eyes fluttered closed. Was she dreaming? He pulled her closer. The kiss lasted a few seconds until Michael pulled away, and said, "Hey, you're not the only actor." They went in for another kiss.
"Um, excuse me…" A random girl said. "I have to use the bathroom?"
"There's one on the second floor!" Lola shouted, and went in to kiss Michael again. Everything felt perfect now, in her mind.
Swish.
Dana smiled contently to herself as she made another basket. It was about eleven o' clock, way past curfew, but did she care? Uh, no…
No one knew this, but she came out here some nights, when most people were asleep, and just played basketball. It brought her to a different world; a world that blocked away everything else.
She ran in for a lay-up, her black basketball shorts swishing behind her, and made it in with ease.
There was someone carrying a flashlight some distance away, but she didn't think much of it. Right then, it was just her and the basket and the ball.
"Dana?" Logan's voice echoed. Or so she thought. She groaned and turned around.
"What do you want, pretty boy?" She noticed he was not carrying a flashlight, but his cell phone.
"I've been trying your cell all day." He said quietly. "Everyone's been…you know…worried…"
"About what? I'm fine!" she said quickly. "Now stay out of my way! Why are you even talking to me." She dribbled up and shot at the foul line. It hit the rim and bounced off. "Ugh! You see? You see what you do?!"
"I'm not doing anything!" Logan said defensively. She ran to get the ball, but he grabbed it first.
"Give it back, you idiot." She commanded bitterly. He was ruining her different world.
"Can you listen for a second?!" he asked, exasperated. Dana sighed and crossed her arms.
"You've got fifteen seconds." She stated, staring at her nails.
"Okay." He nodded. "Look, I'm…I'm…I'm sorry, alright?" Dana looked up. "Lori told me everything. I should've listened to you."
"Yeah, you should've!" Dana yelled. "Sorry? That's all you've got, Hasselhoff-Wanna-Be?!"
"Uh…"
"Because with me, you need an apology," she gave a small smile. "And a one-on-one game." He smiled. "Well, what're you waiting for? Check it!"
"You're on, Cruz!"
The game went on. They were evenly matched and ended up laughing and joking around the whole time.
In the end, Dana won, much to Logan's protest.
They were now lying on the grass next to the court, laughing about each other's embarrassing shots.
"Can we not tell people that you beat me?" Logan asked, looking up at the sky. "I've got a tough guy rep to uphold."
"Yeah, 'course you do." Dana laugh, not believing him. "I doubt I'd have time to spread the word, anyway."
"What?" he turned to face her. "Wait, why?"
Dana took a deep breath. This was going to be harder than she thought. "My mom enrolled me in a foreign exchange program without asking me…next year, I'm going to school in, um, France…"
"No, you can't!" Logan protested. "Can't you cancel?" She shook her head.
"I'm gonna miss it here…" she turned back to the sky. "And possibly you."
"Aw, Cruz, you know you want me." He teased.
"You're a pig." Dana laughed. "But…maybe I do."
There was a moment of silence as Logan and Dana stared at the sky. The stars were out and shining.
"We'll make it work." Logan finally spoke up. "I'm not gonna let you go that easily." Dana smiled a nodded, suddenly feeling tired. "Wanna make out?"
"Please…" Dana rolled her eyes, as if she didn't want to, and then smirked. "Do you really have to ask?" Then, she closed the space between them.
Meanwhile, a way away, two siblings, though not by blood, exchanged a few words.
"You've done well, sis." Monte said to her, smiling. "Thank you. I knew you weren't evil. Well…not completely."
Lori smirked and looked out the window to the night sky, thinking about her parents, and her past, but also, what she had just done, and the possiblities ahead. "Well, there's no hope for the future if you can't accept the present, is there?"
The End.
A/N: Phew, my conscience feels clearer now:)
If you didn't read my author's note above, I'm aware it's shocking I actually got to this story.
NOTE: This is a sequel to my older story Reawakening The Past! I recommend you read that first if you haven't.
Thanks to those of you who have stuck with this, even though it seemed like I'd given up. You guys rock!
-Colors
